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The Trades Union Congress has named Paul Nowak, a former name centre employee from Merseyside, as its subsequent basic secretary.
Nowak will develop into basic secretary designate on the TUC convention in Brighton in September, taking up from Frances O’Grady when she retires on the finish of the yr after 10 years on the helm.
A union member from the age of 17 when he labored part-time at Asda, Nowak stated it was an “honour” to be chosen to guide the motion amid the price of dwelling disaster.
He was the only candidate nominated by commerce unions to guide the umbrella group, which helps the actions of 48 separate member unions representing 5.5 million employees throughout the nation.
Nowak, 50, had been the TUC’s deputy basic secretary since 2016. He labored within the coronavirus pandemic main union efforts to push the federal government to publish sturdy safe-working steerage, serving to to barter enhancements to make sure tens of millions of individuals had a secure setting to work in.
O’Grady, the TUC’s first feminine secretary basic, had performed a central position within the creation of the furlough scheme, working intently with Rishi Sunak whereas he was chancellor to guard jobs through the pandemic.
Nowak’s appointment comes amid rising industrial unrest throughout Britain, with the prospect of renewed strike motion on the railways and a summer season of public sector pay disputes throughout the financial system.
Earlier than Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister on Thursday, the federal government had warned in opposition to employees taking greater pay rises, saying it might threat a Seventies-style “wage-price spiral” that will pressure the Financial institution of England to lift rates of interest additional to curb persistently larger charges of inflation.
Nonetheless, employees are at present struggling the most important real-terms hit to common pay packets on report, as typical pay awards fail to maintain tempo with inflation hovering to the best degree in 4 many years.
Nowak stated unions have been rising to the problem and combating again. “A decade of standstill wages, overseen by successive Tory governments, has left working individuals on the mercy of this price of dwelling disaster. However unions are rising to the problem and combating again,” he stated.
The federal government this week accepted controversial plans to permit company workers to interchange hanging employees, regardless of widespread anger over mass sackings at P&O Ferries when the corporate drafted in low-paid non permanent employees to interchange the workers it fired. Ministers had promised an employment invoice in 2019 to strengthen employees’ rights, solely to repeatedly drop the plan.
“As TUC basic secretary, I’ll push again on assaults on employees’ rights, make the voices of employees heard, and again our unions to develop and win for his or her members and for all working individuals,” Nowak stated.
“It doesn’t matter if you happen to work in a care residence, a grocery store or an influence station – everybody deserves first rate pay, job safety and dignity at work.”
The Evertonian who went from the store flooring to the highest
Standing up for employees’ rights has been an nearly life-long mission for Paul Nowak, having first joined the GMB union on the age of 17 whereas working part-time at Asda whereas rising up on the Wirral.
Born in Bebington on the peninsula between north Wales and Liverpool – a metropolis with a protracted legacy of commerce union leaders – Nowak has served as a union rep and activist whereas working in a name centre for BT, at Cheshire county council’s bus info crew, and as a resort night time porter.
Earlier than turning into a union official within the late Nineteen Nineties, he had at all times been employed on non permanent and company contracts, lengthy earlier than the increase within the gig financial system that adopted the 2008 monetary disaster and the present battle over financial insecurity.
A member of the primary consumption of the TUC’s organising academy in 1998 – alongside Sharon Graham, now basic secretary of Unite and Roz Lobby, the final secretary of the Scottish TUC – he has labored intently with unions and employers to barter profitable resolutions to main disputes with corporations together with Royal Mail and British Airways.
A lifelong Everton fan, he has a spouse, Vicky, three grown-up kids and nonetheless lives on the Wirral. Nowak is of blended heritage and is the grandson of immigrants: his grandfathers got here to the UK through the second world conflict from Poland and China, respectively, earlier than settling and elevating households in Liverpool.
In his spare time, when not watching his beloved Blues, he will be discovered spending time with household, taking part in the guitar with pals, or exploring Britain’s canals.
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